The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-09
A Talk With the President.

The New York World, on Wednesday,
printed a very interesting interview with
| the President. There were three points in
it which were much more prominent than
any of the others. The first was the evident
| anxiety of Mr.. Pulitzer, the proprietor of
the World to get before the country a
| statement from the President that he had
! never sought to influence appointments,
and had never, except in one instance, rec
| commended an applicant for office. Doubt
less Mr.. Pulitzer is happy now, since it can
not be said, when he publishes something
unkind about the President, that he is hos
tile to him because the President refused to
give offices to his friends.
Another of the points was the Presidents
satisfaction with the progress he has made
in the matter Of civil service reform. He
is confident that if he has not placed the re-
form upon firm basis he will do so before
the end of his term. In the course of the
interview he said that for the first year and
half he was overrun by crowds of people
who demanded the removal of this or that
man from office on the ground that he was
Republican, and when they were informed
that being Republican was not a sufficient
ground for removal under the new order Of
things they went away in very unfriendly
state of mind. Now, the President said,
when delegation asks for the removal of
an official the ground alleged is that the man
is unfit for the place he holds, and is an I'M
faithful public servant
There is no doubt that the President has
brought about great change for the better
in the civil service, and he has done it at
the risk of alternating many of his strongest
and warmest supporters. Some of the poll
ticians who, during the last Presidential
campaign, were loudest in demanding a
thorough reform In the civil service, were
the first to approach the President, after his
inauguration, with a request that he would
disregard the civil service law and break
the pledges he had made to enforce it. The
Presidents firmness in behalf of civil service
reform was the cause of all the attacks upon
him by members of his own party during
the first eighteen months of his administra-
ton. That he resisted the immense pres
sure that was brought to bear upon him to
cause him to abandon civil service reform,
and, that too, when for time it looked as
if he were about to be left to fight the civil
service reform battle alone, convinced the
people that he was strong and honest, and
they at once gave him a firm and steady
support. With the people to lean upon he
nolonger had need of the politicians; but
the politicians, finding that he had the PEG
pile with him, quickly came to his support
also. He has the satisfaction of having
brought about a reform which the people
always said they wanted, but which no
other administration was able to effect.
The third point in the interview related
to asecond term. Mr.. Cleveland, in effect,
said that he did not want to be President
longer than his present term. His ambition
is satisfied, and he has no friends he wants
to reward and no enemies he desires to pun
ish. He will accept denomination if it is
the desire of his party that he shall, but he
will do so not because he wants another
lease of power, but from a solemn convic-
ton that he should not shrink from accepting
any of the burdens of citizenship which he
is capable of bearing when called upon to do
so. There is no reason to doubt that he is
sincere in what he says. No one knows of
any act of his which looks like seeking a re-
election. He has hold upon the people, not
because he has courted them, but because
he is an honest and faithful President.